Press release

We turned a big minus into a big plus: Dominican captain

Dominican Republic's captain Milagros Cabral scored 26 points and was selected as the Most Impressive Player of the game against Serbia

Dominican Republic captain Milagros Cabral: I’m super-happy with this win. We started the match with a big minus but turned it into a big plus. In the first round of the tournament, things weren’t so good for us, but we started playing well in the second round and we wanted to get things off on the right foot in this round. In the first part of this tournament I felt the team wasn’t really pulling together and the teamwork was not so good. But after that the players practiced hard to become better and started to fulfill their roles in the team, and this is the reason for our good performance in the last few matches. Now we want to keep it going.

Dominican Republic coach Marcos Kwiek: We’re really happy with this win and I think we have been able to achieve our objective, which is to gain points. The level we started with was not great, but then we aggressively went after the points and we served better, which is one of our main strengths. We got some good reception from our team and the players started playing better. It’s important to respect the opposition team. Our last two matches are against Korea and Brazil, two strong teams, and we will try to do our best. I think we can pull together and get each player fulfilling their roles in the team.

Serbia coach Zoran Terzic: First I want to congratulate the Dominican team. They played really well. If a team wants to play well and win, they must respect every point and especially the opposing team. In the first two sets, we did a good job, but from the third [my players] started to play in some other way and stopped respecting anything on the court, especially in relation to agreements we had before the game. So it’s not possible to play well like this against a team like the Dominican Republic.

(Why didn’t you replace Brizitka Molnar at the end of the fourth set when she had three reception errors in four points?) We prepared the game together and we try to play like a team every time – and not just the players on the court. We make the same job and really try to do our best. When your team starts to play in some other way and don’t respect what we prepared before the game, it means they don’t need my help or the help of someone from the bench. The team must learn and we must make everything together and we must respect what we prepare before the game. I hope they learn something from today’s game. This is the reason why I didn’t replace Brizitka or any other player or take timeouts or whatever.

(What advice did you give your players?) I gave them only one piece of advice: To play the same way like they did in the first two sets. Nothing more.

Serbia captain Jovana Brakocevic: First, my compliments to the Dominican Republic for their great play. I think we did a great job in the first set and most of the second set, but in the end we had problems with receiving, and in the third, fourth and fifth sets the Dominicans played better, while we couldn’t pass and couldn’t attack. It was a bad day for us and I hope tomorrow will be better.

(Re. injury to hand): It was a little bit difficult to come back after a one-month break, but I’m trying to do my best to get into shape and help my team. My injury is past, so it’s pointless to ask every game how I feel. I feel fine.